Friday, June 7, 2013

When did the Sacred Heart begin to exist?

Solemnity
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Heart
of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father. Have mercy on us.

Heart
of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost. Have mercy
on us.

While there can be no doubt
that the person of Jesus, who is none other than the Son of the Eternal Father,
the very Word of God who was in the beginning with God, did not begin to exist
but rather has always been; nevertheless, we may well question whether the
Sacred Heart of Jesus came into being at any time.

Even though the Eternal Word
has been from before everlasting ages, can we say that the Sacred Heart has always
been? Or, rather, shall we hold that the Heart of our Savior only came into
existence at the moment of the Incarnation? Or, even further, ought we to think
that the Sacred Heart only began to exist sometime after the conception of our
Lord, but before his birth, at the time that the human heart organ was formed
in the womb of Mary?

This question will allow us to
enter into a rather speculative point of theological inquiry: Is devotion to
the Sacred Heart a devotion to the humanity of Jesus only, or also to his
divinity?

The
Sacred Heart of Jesus includes the human organ

When
we worship and adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus, are we worshiping the beating corporeal
muscle? The Encyclical Haurietis
Aquas, with which Ven.
Pius XII promulgated the universal feast of the Sacred Heart, explicitly refers
to the physical and corporeal Heart of Jesus many times.

The
Venerable Pontiff states, “It is likewise beyond doubt that He [i.e. Christ,
our Savior] was endowed with a physical heart like ours”, and he directs the
Church to “the contemplation of the physical Heart of Jesus”. Still, it is
clear that the devotion reaches primarily to the love which is shown humanity
in this burning furnace of charity, the Heart of our Savior.

Hence,
we affirm that the immediate (or proximate) object of the cult of the Heart of
Jesus is the physical and corporeal heart muscle, considered as an essential
part of the sacred Humanity of Christ which is hypostatically united to the
Logos. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is not merely the worship of Jesus’
heart in the metaphorical sense. Still, we must affirm that the whole object of
our devotion is the person of Jesus Christ, whose redemptive love is most
perfectly symbolized by the corporeal heart.

The
love of the Sacred Heart

While we admit that the
devotion to the Sacred Heart is indeed a devotion to the heart organ itself, we
must emphasis that this organ is also a symbol and sign for the love of Christ.
Hence, this devotion is principally directed toward the love which Christ has
for God and for men – and it seems more to the love which he has for men: It is
a devotion to “the Heart that has so loved men.” (As St. Margaret Mary states)

However, we may well ask
ourselves: Is the love of the Sacred Heart the divine or the human love of our
Savior? That is, is this devotion directed to the love which Jesus has for us
as God; or to that love which he has for us as man.

First, we must assert that
there are two loves in Christ – just has he has two wills (and two natures), he
must necessarily have two loves. It is obvious enough: Love is the act of the
will, and the love of a human will must needs be human love.

Second, it seems that we must conclude
that the devotion to the Sacred Heart is almost exclusively a devotion to the
human love of our Savior. Indeed, the love which Jesus has as God is the very
same love which the Father and the Holy Spirit have – for there is only one
will in the Most Holy Trinity, just as there is only one nature. [Notice,
parenthetically, that the ONE person of Jesus has TWO natures and therefore TWO
loves; but the THREE persons of the Trinity have only ONE divine nature and
therefore only ONE divine love.]

Now, if the love to which we are
devoted in the Sacred Heart were the divine love of Jesus, then the Sacred
Heart would not really be the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but the Sacred Heart of
the Most Holy Trinity – since the Three have only this one same love. But, the
devotion is not to the Heart of the Trinity, but is a specific devotion to our
Savior. And, as in any specific devotion to our Savior, it must needs be a
devotion to this humanity.

Therefore, we must conclude
that the Sacred Heart of Jesus (in addition to including the physical heart
organ of our Lord’s sacred human body) is principally understood to be the
human love which the human heart symbolizes. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a
devotion to our Savior’s humanity, and to his love for us as man (specifically,
as head of the Church).

When
did the Sacred Heart begin to exist?

While it is quite certain that
the physical heart organ of our Savior was only formed some time after his
Incarnation, it seems that we must hold that the Sacred Heart existed from the
first moment of our Lord’s conception.

Earlier, we had maintained that
devotion to the Sacred Heart includes devotion to the physical heart organ;
however, we must realize that it is properly a devotion to the human love of
Jesus which this heart symbolizes.

Therefore, the Sacred Heart may
be said to have existed since this human love came to be. And this human love
began at the very moment that the human will came to be. And the human will was
created together with the soul of our Savior at the moment of the conception of
his flesh in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.

From the first moment of his
conception, our Savior knew and loved each and every one of us. From the moment
he came into existence, even as an embryo in the womb of his Virgin Mother, the
Lord had a perfect knowledge of all things and he held every man who had or did
or would ever exist in the loving embrace of his Sacred Heart.

Hence, the Sacred Heart must
surely have existed from the very first moment of our Savior’s conception, but
not a moment before (because, until this time, our Lord’s Sacred Humanity was
not; therefore, neither was his Sacred Heart).

This teaching is affirmed by Venerable
Pius XII:

“The knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of which we
were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, exceed all the human
intellect can hope to grasp. For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the
Mother of God, when He began to enjoy the beatific vision, and in that vision
all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present
to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love.” (Mystici Corporis 75)

Fr. I am confused. You say that we 'must affirm that the whole object of our devotion is the person of Jesus Christ, whose redemptive love is most perfectly symbolized by the corporeal heart.' Jesus is fully divine and fully human; through His human heart, does He not also therefore love us with divine as well as human love? If so, then how is it that 'we must conclude that the devotion to the Sacred Heart is almost exclusively a devotion to the human love of our Savior'? Are you asserting that as flowing from the fact that He has two natures and therefore two loves, that these loves are not only distinct, but also separable, so that His humanity radiates only His human love? I would have thought that His human love was informed by and transfigured in some way by His divine love. Otherwise, I'm not sure how His purely human love would be special and venerable. But, maybe it is so simply by the fact of it being perfect.

In any event, your doctrine greatly elevates the respect due to the human love of Jesus, and this love is wonderful to contemplate.